The present invention relates to a bearing, and more particularly to isolating a bearing to prevent transmitted vibrations.
A gearbox or housing provides a mounting point for multiple shaft mounted intermeshing gears. Each shaft is typically mounted through the housing and retained at one or both ends by a bearing. The bearings are fitted into an opening in the housing and supports an end of the shaft. The shaft is rigidly mounted to maintain the shafts rotational centerlines which allows the shaft and gears to rotate at high speed within the housing.
As the shafts are rotated at high speed, any minor variations in the intermeshing gear teeth create vibration. Some of this vibration takes the form of sound energy, i.e. noise, which travels along a transmission path. The vibrations are transmitted along the transmission path through the mounted shaft, into the bearings, and into the housing. The vibration is further amplified by the housing and radiated to the environment. This noise and vibration is both undesirable and can be subject to regulatory rules.
It is known to manufacture the gear teeth to very tight tolerances in an attempt to minimize vibrations. It is further known to dampen the vibrations with elastomeric bearings. However, the former reaches the limits of a machining process and the later can interfere with maintaining the rotational centerlines of the shafts.
Accordingly, it is desirable to break the transmission path to reduce the transmitted noise while maintaining a rigid structure for supporting the high speed rotation of the gear shafts.